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Not applicable.
The invention relates to a supporting device for a shelf of a piece of furniture or the like, including a first portion corresponding to means for fixing to said piece of furniture and a second portion defining a journal on which a shelf is capable of resting.
This invention will find its application in the field of the furniture industry and relates in particular to supports for shelves.
At present, there is already known a large number of supports for shelves for furniture or the like meeting the above description. In particular, there is known a support for a shelf in the simple form of a metal rod length a portion of which is aimed at being inserted into a hole with an adapted cross-section provided for in a wall of a piece of furniture and the other portion of which, which remains protruding with respect to this wall, defines a journal on which said shelf is capable of resting.
In some cases, on this portion, which is designed so as to be capable of being protruding with respect to the wall of the piece of furniture, can be provided for a flat surface, so as to improve said shelf s capability of resting.
The portion defining the means for fixing to the piece of furniture of this supporting device for a shelf can obviously adopt other embodiments. In particular, they can be in the form of a wing extending perpendicularly to the portion acting as a support for a shelf. At the level of this wing can be provided, as the case may be, for a tip, also adapted to the cross-section of a hole provided for at the level of the wall of a piece of furniture, i.e. a hole for the passing through of a fastening screw. In fact in order to facilitate the placing of these supports for a shelf but also in order to be able to easily change their height positioning, the use of such fastening screws is usually avoided.
One clearly understands that though such devices acting as a vertical support for a shelf, they do in no way immobilize the latter as regards a horizontal displacement. Now, when a pull force is inadvertently exerted on this shelf, e.g. when a child seizes it and hangs from it, its falling down is unavoidable and, of course, also the falling down of the objects it supports. When knick-knacks or container objects are concerned, there is a possible risk for an accident.
In order to avoid such a displacement in a horizontal direction of a shelf with respect to its supports, the portion corresponding to the latter, on which said shelf rests, can, in turn, receive, as the case may be, a tip designed so as to be capable of being inserted into a perforation provided for in the lower face of said shelf or also an opening for the passing through of a fastening screw.
Here too, the placing of such a fastening screw is considered as an operation that is delicate to be carried out and/or constraining. Furthermore, the displacement in height of a shelf requires, in this case, a previous unscrewing operation, afterwards, a re-screwing operation.
As regards the solution consisting of providing a tip on the portion on which the shelf will rest the solution requires machining, at the level of the lower face of this shelf, openings for receiving these tips. Obviously, machining these openings obliges the manufacturer to re-handle the shelves after they have been cut to the desired size. In addition, these shelves are then no longer symmetrical, in that they include an upper face and a lower face that have to be taken into consideration when mounting the piece of furniture.
Finally, one should note that new applicable standards in this field require a shelf arranged at a determined height with respect to the floor to be fixed, in all cases, in order to avoid a horizontal displacement, when a normal pulling force is applied onto it. Therefore, only the most constraining solutions set forth above are presently applicable to comply with such standards.
This invention is aimed at being capable of coping with the above-mentioned constraints with a simple solution that requires no specific arrangement or machining at the level of the shelves, while avoiding using fastening organs, such as screws or the like.
To this end, the invention relates to a supporting device for a shelf of a piece of furniture or the like, including a first portion corresponding to means for fixing to said piece of furniture and a second portion defining a journal on which a shelf is capable of resting, characterized in that perpendicularly to and above said journal is provided for a sharp blocking edge.
Advantageously, this sharp blocking edge defines an ascending angle, according to a direction from the second portion to the first portion of said device.
Furthermore, according to the invention, the supporting device for a shelf is made out of a hard material, preferably of a metallic type.
Finally, the advantages that result from this invention reside in that under the influence of the presence of the sharp blocking edge, the shelf is anchored, in a natural way and almost under its own weight, onto the supporting device, so that it is fixed, avoiding an unwanted horizontal displacement.